


1. One Night Stand - The Romanian Series

by Denise_Felt



Series: The Romanian Series [1]
Category: Gerry Anderson's UFO
Genre: Erotica, F/M, No Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-16
Updated: 2010-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-13 05:45:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/133635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denise_Felt/pseuds/Denise_Felt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Commander Straker has an unorthodox proposal for the new actress at the studio who has gotten under his skin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Night Stand - The Romanian Series

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains adult content and is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18.

## 1\. One Night Stand

 **(A UFO Story)  
** by Denise Felt 2010

 _A Sci-Fi Forever Forum Challenge Story_

Author’s note: This story contains adult content and is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18.

 **Chapter 1**

Rayna Dalco had just finished brushing her hair after her shower when a knock sounded on the door of the suite. She met her own gaze in the mirror for a moment, silently asking her image who might be at her door at this hour? She sighed, laid down the brush, and went out of the bedroom toward the front door. There was really only one way to find out the answer to that question.

She stopped at the door and peered through the peephole. Her breath caught momentarily, but she told herself not to be foolish and opened the door. Her robe, though thin, was sufficiently modest to cover her nightgown and not incite a riot. Surely she would not be tempting fate by inviting her boss into her hotel room? He was the one who had decided to come calling this late, after all.

"What is it?" she asked him, wondering what could have brought him here.

He blinked at the sight of her, having not taken into account the lateness of the hour. It had felt as if he’d been driving around – fighting with himself over this situation – for years, even though he was certain that only a few hours had passed. But the hands of his watch, while reassuring him that he’d been correct in his assumption, hadn’t alerted him that the hour was too far advanced for casual conversation. Even if it had, he doubted if he would have heeded it. He wasn’t here for casual conversation.

She looked magnificent in a cream silk robe over a cream silk negligee that looked enticing against her golden skin and left far too much for his overactive imagination to play with. Her dark hair shone as richly in the soft light of the room as the silk she wore, and he had to swallow before he could speak.

"Can we talk?"

She gazed at him a moment in silence, her dark eyes probing his for a clue why he might wish to talk to her. He did not allow his eyes to shy away from hers, but it was a struggle to maintain his poker face against her probing gaze. After a moment, she either decided that he was harmless or she was curious enough to chance letting him in anyway, because she opened the door wider and said, "Come on in."

He took a deep breath . . . and followed her into the room.

"Coffee?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Please," he answered.

She gestured toward the twin couches in the living area as she headed for the small kitchenette behind the bar. He sat on one of the couches and watched as she turned on the small coffee pot that sat on one end of the bar. She filled two mugs with the aromatic brew that poured into the pot and brought them to the low coffee table between the two couches, setting one down in front of where he sat before sitting on the opposite couch with her mug in her hand. She said nothing, merely sipping her coffee and watching him out of dark eyes. Waiting for him to tell her why he was here.

He had been intrigued by her stillness from the beginning. She carried it with her like a cloak over her shoulders, one she only shrugged off when in character for a scene. He didn’t know if that quality of silence was a byproduct of her Romanian roots, or if she would have been the same if she’d been brought up in Queens. But it had caught his attention early on in their association, and he had found himself drawn to it time and again. The women he knew and worked with on a daily basis were not quiet. And they never made him want to linger in their company.

He took a sip of the exceptional coffee she’d brewed and said, "About tonight."

A brief flicker of her eyelids was all the response he got. But he sensed her sudden alertness and knew that she was aware of what he was referring to. Normally, he would have waited her out, allowing the silence to fill the room, its unseen presence growing stronger every moment, eventually pressuring her into speech. But although he hesitated to speak of something he would never normally admit out loud, he knew instinctively that she would deny everything that had happened if he didn’t acknowledge it first.

"We need to decide how we’re going to handle it," he said quietly, but firmly.

Her dark eyes weighed him again over her mug, as if assessing how much she should admit. "Why?"

He blinked in surprise, realizing belatedly that she had already decided how to handle it. She had intended to ignore it altogether. His lips thinned slightly. He wished momentarily that he could take that route himself. It would certainly simplify things. "Do you honestly believe it will go away if we ignore it, Rayna?" he asked tightly.

She shrugged. "Listen, Ed. The shoot is nearly finished. There’s only cleanup work left; closeups and such that won’t require us to work so closely together. I leave for my home in the States in just a few days, and my part in the movie will be done. There’s no need for us to address any of this. A month from now, you won’t even remember my name. It’ll be over."

"If you think that, you have a very low opinion of yourself."

She shrugged again, but her lips quirked slightly. "Fine. Have it your way. Two months."

"It’s not that simple."

"It can be."

He sighed, wondering if she was merely being obtuse or if she really had no idea what they were dealing with? "Do you know this from personal experience?" he asked her softly.

She looked at the coffee in her mug rather than at him.

"Rayna?"

She finally met his eyes, hers faltering after a moment. In an uncharacteristically restive movement, she waved a hand at him. "If you’re asking if I make a habit of falling for my costar, the answer is no. I haven’t been foolish enough to do that for many years. It doesn’t last, Ed. I don’t know why you’re making it an issue."

Her reticence began to make sense to him. "I’m not talking about a crush or anything like that. Are you going to tell me that’s all you felt? Because if so, then we obviously have nothing to discuss."

She frowned into her mug for a long moment, then hesitantly met his eyes. "I don’t get it. You have a reputation for not getting involved with your costars. It’s one of the reasons I was excited to work with you. I take my job seriously and find all the theatrics annoying. I thought you did too."

"You’re right. I do," he admitted. "But this isn’t like that at all. Rayna, you have to believe me when I say that I’ve never felt anything like this before in my life."

She was surprised enough to show it. And for an instant he saw something else as well – an unexpected vulnerability in her face. He pressed her for an answer, quite aware that she had sidestepped his question. "What about you? Have you felt something this strong before?"

She sighed. "It hardly matters, Ed. What does matter is that I’ll be gone by the end of the week, and we’ll probably never see each other again. It was just a kiss. What good can come from pursuing this?"

He sat back against the cushions. "You think you can ignore it and go on as if nothing happened."

"Nothing _has_ happened, Ed, and it’s best if we keep it that way. You’re not a man who would be easy to forget, and I don’t need the heartache."

He nodded in understanding of everything she wasn’t saying. "That’s probably the smartest route to take – in most cases. But this isn’t something that can be filed away and forgotten, Rayna. Believe me, if it was, I’d already be working on that. And if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll admit that you know it too."

She set her mug down and linked her fingers in her lap. "What I know is that there can be no future for us. Attraction isn’t enough in itself to sustain a relationship, and it certainly doesn’t work across long distances. Ed, we live continents apart. I can’t see a happy ending here, and trust me, that’s the only kind I’m interested in."

"I understand." He paused, considering for a moment. How nice it would have been if they could have made a happy ending for themselves! But Security had already decreed that he could never again marry a civilian. "Although I think we have a much greater regard for each other than simply attraction, I will concede that geography definitely plays a part in any scenario we choose. But what I don’t think you’re taking into account is that this isn’t going to go away on its own."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "I know a little about regrets. And I have found that the regrets that wake you at three am and make it impossible to go back to sleep are never for those things you’ve done. They’re for the things you didn’t do and wish you had."

She frowned, thinking about it. After a period of silence, she met his eyes once more. "So. What’s your plan?"

"One night."

"Are you serious?" she asked incredulously. "Do you honestly hope to burn this out in one night?"

"No. I know that isn’t possible. But, Rayna. You’re not the only one who is aware that we can have no future together. My work . . . my work consumes my life. There’s nothing left over for a relationship, and certainly not for the kind of relationship I’d prefer to pursue with you. I went that road once and won’t make that kind of a disastrous mistake again. I can’t let myself in for that amount of pain a second time."

"So – what? You think if you cheapen it enough, it won’t hurt so bad?"

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "No. Of course not. I’m only trying to explain why I came to this decision."

She saw the turmoil in his eyes and couldn’t keep her outrage. It seeped away as if it had never been when she realized how hard this was for him too. "Alright," she said quietly. "I’m listening."

"Thank you." He took a deep breath and tried to marshal his thoughts. "I’m not wired for casual relationships. I find it difficult to consider spending any time at all following a course that I know will lead nowhere. It’s unproductive."

She grinned at his unassailable logic. "I agree."

He nodded. "So that lets out an affair, even if we could find some way of conducting one long distance. Or if I managed to somehow convince you to abandon your home and your friends for the dubious rewards of staying in England. And since it’s not going to be possible for me to attempt a more permanent solution – no matter how much I might be willing to risk it – there really aren’t many choices left to us."

Rayna swallowed at his mention of marriage. If she were being quite honest with herself, she’d admit that she’d begun weaving just such impossible dreams about him since they’d started working on this movie together, because he’d turned out to be even more of a great man once she met him than she had assumed from his reputation in the film industry. But she’d known and accepted that they were just that – dreams. Not anything that would ever approach reality.

So now, to have him admit that he’d thought about it too – well. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest that she was certain he could hear it, and she wanted to beg him to reconsider his options. To talk him into seeing that they might be able to make such a difficult path work for them – if they were both committed to that path.

But not only would that be a course that would take them down dangerous roads, she could tell by the distress in his blue eyes that he saw no way through the obstacle course himself. And although she didn’t know all the reasons for his conclusions, she was quite aware that he had considered them carefully – and was no happier with them than she was. Tentatively she said, "We could just ignore all of it. Just let it go."

"Yes." He sighed. How he hated discussing such personal things! He should just accept her choice and go home. But the thought of the painful regrets they’d both suffer if he took that path made his gut clench, so he persevered.

"Rayna, Tennyson once said, ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.’ Having loved – and lost – before, I have to agree with him. Even with the inevitable pain, there is a sense that you’ve experienced something precious – something no one can ever take away from you, no matter what happens. And this situation is even beyond anything I’ve ever known before, so how much more precious does it have the chance to be?

"We could walk away from this and pretend nothing happened to us. It was just a moment, after all. Just a touch of lips. But we’d be lying, because what happened changed us, _connected_ us in a way that time may never be able to destroy. So it comes down to this: will we take one night to enjoy each other and that connection, accepting that we can have nothing more than that? Or will we step away, trying to minimize the damage – and end up waking at three am for the rest of our lives regretting that we never took that night?"

Her dark eyes stared into his for a long time, but finally she looked down at her clasped hands in her lap. He didn’t need to hear the tension in her deep voice to know how hard this was for her, since he could clearly see it in the whiteness of her knuckles. And he knew her answer before she said it.

"I’m sorry, Ed. I’ve never been in love like you have. I’ve only ever dealt with infatuation, and that’s something quite different. I’ve often regretted the few times I’ve acted on that, and I think this can be similar, if I let it. If I treat it as an infatuation, then I won’t wake wishing I’d pursued it. I’ll be glad – eventually – that I didn’t. If I _did_ go along with your plan, if I _did_ think of this as something rare and special, I have a good idea what to expect. I’d end up so far over my head that it would be months before I could function normally again. And I can’t let myself in for that. It would be emotional suicide. Do you see?"

"Yes. I see." He stood and looked at her for a moment. "Thank you for at least hearing me out." He waved her back as she went to get up, and said, "I’ll see myself out. Good night."

She was shaking before he even crossed to the door, but thankfully the tears didn’t start until after he had closed it behind him.

  
 **Chapter 2**

"Want to talk about it?"

Rayna opened her eyes and saw the sympathy in the makeup artist’s expression. She closed them on a sigh. "About what?"

Janice popped her gum as she applied toner to the actress’ face. "About your rough night."

"Is it obvious?"

"Nope."

Rayna met her eyes for a moment. "Then how – ?"

"Hey, I’ve been in Makeup for eight years. I know faces."

"Oh."

There was silence as Janice smoothed on foundation. Well, relative silence, since she continued popping her gum at intervals. At this hour of the morning, Rayna could have found the sound annoying, but she was merely grateful that the makeup artist chewed the fruit-flavored gum. She’d worked with many over the years whose morning breath could impale you at ten feet, let alone the close quarters needed for applying makeup.

"So," Janice continued after checking the blended color with yesterday’s finished look. "What’s your secret?"

Rayna smiled while Janice added blush to her cheeks. "My grandmother’s recipe. It’s been in the family for years."

"No kidding? Why doesn’t she market it? Any eye cream that actually takes down puffiness is worth its weight in gold. She could be a millionaire."

The image that thought brought into Rayna’s head had her smile widening. "I don’t think she’d go for it, but I’ll tell her."

"Do that. I’d buy it in a minute."

Rayna’s eyes opened again as she looked closely at the girl. "You have a lot of rough nights?"

"Nah. But I deal with them all the time in my work."

"I’ll bet."

Janice said, "I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t happen to you."

"What do you mean?"

Janice slanted her a look as she added eye shadow. "Come on. His costars always fall for him. None of them leave here unscathed. It’s a given."

Rayna swallowed, a bit bemused. "Really?"

The makeup artist shrugged as she picked up the eyebrow pencil. "Yep. But I like you, and you’re not stupid – which is rare, let me tell you. So I thought maybe you’d be the exception."

The actress thought about that for a moment, then said, "How do you know I’m not?"

Janice grinned. "Easy. Your last day on the set’s tomorrow, and you were crying all night. Add to that the fact that you were extra flushed when we were removing your makeup last night, and it spells ‘Straker-itis.’ It’s easy to recognize after all these years."

Rayna grinned at her term. "Is there a cure then?"

Janice sighed. "Not so’s I’ve noticed."

"You too?" she asked in surprise.

The makeup artist shrugged. "Oh, yeah. I mean, how can you not? He’s gorgeous."

"You should know more than anyone that appearances aren’t everything."

"Oh, honey! I do," she was assured. "But he’s got that way of looking at you – you know? Straight at you like he’s totally focused on what you’re saying. How can anybody fight the effect of those blue eyes looking at you?"

The question was unanswerable.

"It helps though that he’s totally unaware of his effect, don’t you think? That way you don’t feel like such an idiot for falling under his spell. We even have a special name for him in our department. We call him Mr. Oblivious."

Rayna choked on a laugh.

"But you should have it fairly easy today," Janice continued.

"Why’s that?"

"Because he’s not going to be on the set. He told Kevin first thing this morning and had him pulling out hair. Not to his face, of course, but after he left for his office. Directors hate it when you change their schedules. So you caught a break."

"That’s good to know," Rayna said on a sigh, closing her eyes as the makeup artist sprayed sealer over her features. Outwardly, she was calm, but inside she felt the relieved trembling all the way to her toes. She hadn’t realized how keyed up she’d been about seeing him today until now, when her body told her in no uncertain terms that it appreciated the reprieve. Of course, added to that relief was also a disappointment so keen that it had claws. But she ignored that, preferring to concentrate on the relief instead.

Janice checked her finished look with yesterday’s. "Okay then. You’re good to go."

"Thanks, Janice."

As she got up from the chair, Janice laid a hand on her arm. "Listen, if you want to talk, let off some steam, or just have a weep, just holler – okay?"

Rayna was touched by her kindness. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

The makeup artist shrugged once more. "Well, I don’t offer it to everyone, but like I said, I like you."

Rayna smiled. "I like you too, Janice."

"Gert’s ready to do your hair."

"I’m heading over there now."

Janice keyed in a response to the message on her tiny laptop. "Okay. Break a leg."

Yeah, Rayna thought as she headed down the hall. Legs healed faster than hearts.

***  
"Aren’t you supposed to be on the set of that movie?"

Straker looked up from signing a report and watched Alec enter his HQ office. "I was busy."

"Oh." The colonel went to the drink dispenser and got himself a whiskey. "Did we get an alert then?"

"No."

Undeterred by the commander’s brusque tone, Freeman sat in the chair in front of the desk to enjoy his drink. After a few minutes watching his old friend ignoring him while he read and signed reports, he said with a sigh, "Don’t you lose half the cast after tomorrow? If it was me, I’d want to enjoy their company while I could."

Straker’s features tightened. "Then you go. Some of us have work to do."

Alec took a sip. "Wouldn’t do me any good. She shuts me down faster than you can blink."

The pen paused a moment before signing. "Who?" the commander demanded without looking up.

"Rayna Dalco, of course. Who else? All those curves, and eyes that promise all sorts of fire to the man who can breach her walls. But she just won’t budge. It’s such a shame. We’d burn up the sheets."

Damn it. He should have known. Alec always went for the famous actresses on the lots. As far as his friend was concerned, it was SOP for working in a film studio. But Straker hadn’t even considered that his friend might make a play for her, which only proved how much she’d managed to rattle him. It eased the sting a bit, however, to realize that Alec hadn’t gotten anywhere with her. "She’s not your type."

"I have a type?"

Straker’s lips wanted to twitch, but he was finding so little humorous this morning that it wasn’t too difficult to keep them still. "There’s always Camilla," he said, referring to the other female star in the movie.

Freeman shrugged. "Been there. Done that. Besides, she’s too eager." Alec sighed gustily. "There’s just something about a woman who can put you in your place from twenty feet away. It’s like a challenge."

The commander fiddled with his pen. "And you so enjoy a challenge."

"I do. I really do," the colonel said with a grin. Then he sighed. "But somehow I don’t think I’m going to get anywhere with her in the time I have left. Can’t you tell the director that you need her to stay on for another week?"

Straker’s heart leapt at the mere suggestion. But he knew that course would only prolong the agony. He signed the report in front of him. "Just so you can score? I don’t think so."

"Well, it was a thought." Alec took another sip. He ruminated for a few moments, thinking back over the conversation, then said, "So why are you avoiding the set? Has Camilla been coming on to you again?"

"No." Straker pulled out another report and opened it. "I told you. I’m busy."

"Sure."

There was silence for several minutes while Alec drank his whiskey and the commander read and signed reports. But Straker could only hold out for so long against his old friend. Finally he put the pen down and said tartly, "Don’t you have work to do?"

"Yeah. Sure." But the colonel didn’t get up from the chair. He took another sip of the whiskey and said quietly, "So, am I being particularly stupid this morning? Did the incomparable Dalco manage to dent your heart too?"

Straker’s face turned to stone. "Go. Somewhere else. Now."

The colonel sighed and got up from the chair, downing the last of his whiskey before taking the glass to the dispenser. But before he left the office, he turned to his friend and said, "Listen, Ed. I know what you think about short term relationships. But if you feel that strongly about her, maybe you should talk to her. You never know. She might be amenable."

"She’s not."

Alec blinked stupidly at that blunt statement, then said, "Oh. Sorry." He left the office feeling as though he’d been hit with a sledgehammer, since he hadn’t really thought his friend would actually ever consider such an option. Finding out that he had not only considered it, but tried to put it into motion, was a shock to the system. Dented his heart? It seemed to Alec that she must have done considerably more than that to make Ed act so out of character. But the biggest surprise was that she had refused him.

The colonel decided that it might be a good idea to look a little deeper into the actress’ background.

　  
 **Chapter 3**

He got through the day the way he always got through difficult times. With work. It was the one solace he had where he could turn to fight off the despair that sometimes filled him. And although it didn’t always make him feel better, it at least gave him something else to think about until he could relegate whatever pain troubled him into a corner of his mind and shut the door on it. But tonight as he came home, the pain refused to stay hidden away. It was very real.

And quite fierce.

He set down his briefcase and turned on the stereo. Rachmaninoff’s moody undertones perfectly suited his temperament tonight. He was feeling just that restless. In fact, the only bright spot in this entire dismal day had been when he’d rendered Alec speechless this morning as his friend was leaving the HQ office. He would not soon forget the look of stunned surprise on his face – and remembering that instant had helped lighten certain moments of this particularly grim day. His old friend knew him very well after all these years and no doubt took certain things for granted where he was concerned. Straker had been surprised that Alec had pursued the beautiful Rayna Dalco, not because Alec wouldn’t ordinarily do so, but because he was so flustered by her himself that he had forgotten for a while the world he inhabited. But Alec would never have expected Straker to do the same, simply because his commander had never pursued any sort of relationship with an actress in the past. Well, and why would he? Alec might go after anything female and shapely, but Straker had never figured out what the attraction for all that was. It was just trappings, after all. What he looked for in a companion had little to do with appearance and a great deal to do with qualities the actresses he worked with didn’t have.

Except for Rayna. She wasn’t at all like any actress he’d ever met before. There was a depth to her dark eyes that spoke to him of mysteries he had no way to define. As if she had seen things, done things, as somber and soul-destroying as he had. As if she would continue to do so, no matter what else happened, because it was important to her. He didn’t know what secrets lay behind her eyes, but he could not deny that those eyes called to him, bypassing his mind altogether and hooking right into his soul. He’d had no guard against such a woman as her. No way to fight off the feelings he’d had for her from the first time he’d seen her on the set.

How he would have loved to blame it all on something as minor as an attraction! To say that he’d finally fallen foul of Alec’s weakness for women! He could have handled a malady like that; would have known just what to do to cure himself of it. But he knew better. Knew himself better. And what he knew was that – for now, and for years to come – Rayna’s dark and haunting eyes would stay on his mind, taunting him with all the secrets they would never share.

He had just opened his briefcase to remove the paperwork he had brought home to work on when the doorbell rang. He froze momentarily, his heart leaping to his throat that his thoughts of her might have brought her to him. But then he set the papers back into the briefcase with a sigh and closed it, getting up from the couch to answer the door. Reality may not be as glamorous and exciting as fantasy, but it was where he lived. And he knew who was here. It was Alec, worrying about him and wanting to take his mind off of his troubles with a game of chess. He could always count on Alec to try and cheer him up. Even when nothing really would. But it was the effort that mattered, after all.

When he opened the door, he received a shock. Rayna stood on his doorstep, her dark hair damp with the evening mist and her dark eyes meeting his somberly. In the moonlight, she looked like the embodiment of his every fantasy.

"Rayna?" he said, his mind struggling to make order from the sudden clamor of his riotous thoughts. "How did you – ?"

She grimaced slightly, one nervous hand gesturing to where she had parked her car behind his in the drive. "I followed you. From the studio."

He blinked at her, then his mind clicked into gear. "I see. Won’t you come in?"

"Thank you." Her features lightened into a tentative smile as he held the door open for her. She walked down the entryway stairs and stood in his living room, waiting patiently for him to join her. When he did, she surrendered her coat to him with another soft smile.

"Would you care for something to drink?"

"No. Thank you," she said, looking about her with interest at the spacious room, her dark eyes taking in the decor and the countless minor details about his home that would tell her so much more about him than he would feel comfortable with her knowing. But he’d invited her in, so he would just have to deal with that.

He laid her coat on the back of the couch and said, "I thought you’d made your decision."

She nodded, meeting his eyes bravely for a moment. "I did. I . . . I was certain I was doing the right thing, the sensible course. If we never let our relationship go any further, I could go home in a few days and not miss you. Not miss what we didn’t do."

He came closer. "That does sound sensible."

She nodded jerkily. "Yes. It was. Eminently sensible."

He took her nervous hands in his, heartened by the determination he saw in the line of her mouth. "What happened to that plan?" he asked softly.

She swallowed, her dark eyes pools of sadness in her face. "I missed you already. And I hadn’t even left yet."

"Rayna!" He caught her to him, overwhelmed that his fantasy was real – was here in his home and needing him just as much as he was needing her. He kissed her, need clawing its way up his throat. But he forced it down, wanting to take it slow, make it last. They had all night.

 _Oh, God! They had all night!_

In spite of himself, some of his urgency came through the kiss, and she moaned in response, tightening her hands on his shoulders and opening her mouth for him. He plunged his fingers into her mass of curls, holding her head steady as he lost himself in her sweetness. When he felt a slight resistance, he loosened his hold, only to realize she was trying to get his jacket off him. He shrugged it off and drew her back into his arms, not once letting go of her lips.

She marveled that he could reduce her to pure raw nerve endings with just a kiss. Yes, their kiss for the love scene in the movie had awakened something in her, as he said it had in him as well. But still, nothing had prepared her for this – this _onslaught_ of passion. She was already wet, her body aching for completion – and he had barely touched her! And if she was any judge of the matter, he too was hanging on to sanity by a mere thread.

"Ed," she breathed into his mouth as he broke for breath.

"Rayna," he murmured deeply, his hands flexing in her hair. "We need to . . . need to . . ."

"Yes! Yes!"

He shuddered, turning with her in his arms with the thought of leading her to the bedroom, but her hands had found his chest under his shirt, and the feel of them on his skin was like a match laid to dried twigs. He grabbed her close and devoured her neck, her throat, her breasts; his lips and hands racing to feel all of her – _now_. As her head fell back in ecstasy, he found the zipper to her dress at her nape and pulled, wasting no time in sliding it off her shoulders so that his hands and lips could feel her bare skin.

Everywhere he touched, small fires broke out, and it was all Rayna could do to keep up. Her body had never felt so sensitized, and she almost didn’t know herself as she reacted to his passion instinctively, bringing her legs around his waist when they would no longer hold her up. And that move, which would have shocked her in a sane moment, brought her aching core against his hardness, triggering an orgasm in anticipation of what was still to come.

Straker lost whatever shaky ground he’d been standing on when he felt her release ricochet through her. He removed his pants in one fluid movement, leaving his shirt twisted halfway up his chest as he leaned in, pressing her against the door.

"Rayna?" he asked, needing at this penultimate moment to be sure that she was sure.

Her dark eyes opened slowly and met his blazing blue ones. Then she smiled, drawing him closer still. "Yes, Ed. Oh, yes!"

He slid inside, welcomed by her moist warmth. He held himself still for a timeless moment as he stared into her slumbrous eyes, then his body reacted to her responsiveness far beyond what he had imagined. He went wild, overwhelmed by everything he felt on being a part of her this way, plunging madly, spurred on by her passionate cries.

"Ed! Ed! Ed! Ed! Ed! _Ed!_ " Her fingernails bit into his shoulders as she came a second time, and he couldn’t hold on any longer. His release shuddered through him with such force that he gave a shout, then collapsed against her, gasping for breath.

After a few minutes, his mind registered that he was alive – in spite of his inability to suck enough air into his lungs to breathe easily. And he was pressing Rayna into the door, which although it felt glorious to him to have her softness so close, was probably not very comfortable for her. He told his body to back off and give her room to breathe, and he was somewhat surprised when it obeyed him.

He met her eyes and said softly, "I’m sorry to have rushed you like that, Rayna. That wasn’t the plan."

She lifted a languid hand and ran it through his disheveled hair. Her dark eyes held a fugitive twinkle. "Oh, I didn’t mind. But out of curiosity, what was the plan?"

He grinned, relieved that she was okay with his lack of finesse. "Well, it would have been nice to have at least made it to the bedroom."

"Hmmm. I thought you did rather well in spite of that. But maybe for next time. Where is it?"

His grin widened. "Right behind you. Through this door."

She turned her head quickly and surveyed the door. She had assumed she was up against a wall. "Oh." She cleared her throat as she met his dancing blue eyes, finding it difficult to treat this situation with any semblance of normalcy. "Well, then. I guess you get points for almost getting us there."

"That’s good to know." He watched in delight as the blush flowed up her face. He leaned in to kiss her and murmured, "We could probably go in now."

She gave a sharp choke of laughter that he found enchanting, then said as nonchalantly as she could, given her position, "I suppose we can – as soon as I get my breath back."

"We’ll wait till you’re ready then," he said with his tongue in his cheek.

She eyed him narrowly, hearing the laughter in his voice, but then her hands moved on his shoulders, and she got distracted. "Ed," she said after a moment spent toying with the top of the leather holster hanging from his shoulder. "You have a gun."

He sighed. "Yes. I do. Does that bother you?"

She met his eyes seriously, then shook her head. "No. It makes sense, I suppose."

He raised a brow. "It does?"

She gave a dainty shrug. "Well, I know most producers surround themselves with bodyguards. But you don’t do that. You’re too private a person."

He liked her practical reasoning. And it certainly simplified things for him. "You’re right. I am."

"Me too."

"I’d noticed." In fact, he’d been surprised when she had arrived on the set that first day without an entourage surrounding her. It was standard procedure for most actresses these days, no matter how much security a studio boasted. And his boasted more than its share. But she’d been quite alone, in spite of the fact that she was worth far more as a star than he was.

"I like my space."

"On that note," he said with a grin, "we’ll adjourn to the bedroom." He reached around her and turned the doorknob, opening the door for her to step into his bedroom. It tickled him to watch her approach the bed, stepping out of her heels as a matter of course. He hadn’t realized until that moment that she was still wearing them. She shimmied out of her dress, which had been sitting in a heap at her waist, then sat demurely on his coverlet as he closed the door behind him.

His heart filled at the sight of her naked on his bed. He knew this was the most dangerous part of his emotions concerning her – his territorial desire to keep her with him no matter the cost. And seeing her in his bed made those feelings nearly overwhelming. But by focusing on the moment and leaving the future to resolve itself, he could – barely – manage to enjoy the night with no regrets. And he fully intended to do just that.

He laid aside his gun and removed his holster, putting both on the dressing table near the bed. Then he pulled his shirt the rest of the way off and joined her on the bed, reaching down to remove his socks as an afterthought. "Rayna," he sighed, running one lean hand down her long hair to her shoulder. "You are so beautiful."

"So are you, Ed," she said, placing her slender hand on his chest.

He shook his head at her. "There’s no comparison, I assure you."

She grinned, plucking idly at the hair on his chest and unknowingly exciting him in the process. It had been so very long since anyone had touched him that he felt her every movement go through him like a cleansing breeze.

"You’re not sitting where I’m sitting," she told him.

At which he scooped her up and set her in his lap as he moved over into her spot on the bed. He grinned and said, "Now I am, and it makes no difference at all."

She gave that choke of laughter again and kissed him.

That kiss set the mood for them as they playfully explored each other, learning the lines and curves of each other in a way that their earlier fierce coupling had denied them. She watched how deep his blue eyes became when he was aroused by her touch, and he thrilled to the way she responded openly and honestly to his every advance. No coy miss here, he realized, and was so grateful to her for that.

For her part, she’d never had a lover so enthralled with her body before, and she couldn’t help but respond to his delight in every part of her. He seemed to never tire of her breasts, though, and kept coming back to cover them with kisses and small nips. Finally she could take no more of his playing, so she rolled with him until she could straddle him, taking him into her in one laughing move.

"Rayna!" he breathed, caught up in her spell.

She stared into his eyes as she leisurely rode him, taunting him by her slow movements until he retaliated by taking her breast into his mouth and suckling until it drove her mad. He watched her dark eyes go blind above him and thrilled that he could so move her, then he swiftly rolled her under him and finished the game in a surge of passion.

They fell asleep in a tangle of limbs.

***  
Straker never slept many hours in a row, and tonight he had an added incentive to be awake. When he eventually stirred, his first sight was of her bare shoulder peeping out of her curtain of hair as she lay facing away from him. But what he felt was pure heaven. She was snugged right up against him, her lush bottom cradled in his loins, and he came awake with a rush. He ran his hand down under her arm and gently fondled her nearer breast, pressing soft kisses on her shoulder and waking her slowly into a haze of sensation.

He wasn’t even certain that she was fully awake when he finally entered her from behind, but the kittenish murmurs she had been making were bringing out the beast in him, and he couldn’t wait any longer. As before, she was ready for him, already damp and hot inside. He hadn’t known such communion was possible – and certainly not for new lovers. His wonder at her grew as he accepted what his heart had been telling him for days. She was a match for him in so many ways.

She shimmered into ecstasy, falling apart in his arms with a soft cry. His own cry of release was muffled as he buried his face in her hair. They lay quiescent for several minutes, saying nothing, still joined while their heartbeats slowed. Then she spoke softly from the shadows next to him.

"I just had the most amazing dream."

He chuckled. "I did too," he whispered back. "Perhaps we should compare them and see whose was best."

He heard the laughter in her voice when she answered. "Mine would win. It was beyond anything!"

His heart ached for a moment with joy, knowing that he had given her that. "God, you’re so beautiful!" he murmured, hugging her close.

Rayna’s breath caught, and consequently her voice was slightly husky when she replied. "Thank you. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would say that to me."

He kissed her hair. "I told you earlier."

"Yes, but you were looking at me then."

He frowned. "And I’m not looking at you now?"

She turned slightly on the pillow and met his eyes. "Not at my face. It means so little when it’s about my looks, don’t you see? That’s just a combination of good genes and proper hygiene. But when you tell me I’m beautiful without looking at my face, you’re talking about me – the _real_ me – behind this too famous face. And if you find that person beautiful, then that’s something I can be proud of. So, thanks."

His eyes searched her features. "I don’t know how you could ever doubt it," he said finally. "You’re an incredible woman. I’ve never known anyone of your caliber. I could never come to the end of knowing you. I thought I could – but I was wrong."

She laid a hand on his arm as the tension crept into his voice. "Is that such a bad thing, Ed? For me to remain a bit of a mystery to you?"

"I only have one night!" he said fiercely, his blue eyes burning in his suddenly stark face. Then he took a deep breath, visibly pulling himself together. He had one night. And he would make the most of it.

He took her hand with a determined smile, drawing her off the bed. "Come on. Let’s play some dangerous games."

　  
 **Chapter 4**

She actually squealed when she saw his bathtub. He’d thought they might try out the shower, but on seeing her reaction and the way her hands stroked adoringly along the edge of the corner tub, he changed his plans and began to run water in the big tub.

"Oh, I could live in a tub this size!" she gushed, and he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he never used it, preferring the quick efficiency of a shower over a bath.

But they were in no rush tonight.

"Do you have bubble bath?"

He grinned at her enthusiasm, and although he had nothing so decadent as that in his house, he improvised by pouring half his bottle of body wash into the churning water. She sighed happily and grinned from ear to ear when she finally sank into the bubbles. He joined her cautiously, unable to see where her legs were under the bubbles and not wanting to accidentally step on her. They sat in the steaming water for several minutes, simply grinning at each other over the bubbles. Then she spoke.

"So, this is what you consider dangerous?"

He chuckled. "In a way. Nearly seventy-five percent of all household accidents occur in the bathroom."

She laughed and blew a handful of bubbles at him. "Oh, you’re so brave to risk the dangers!"

"I’ll show you danger," he promised darkly, then gave her foot underwater a yank.

When she came sputtering back up to the surface, he was there to kiss her in repentance.

Until she pushed his head under the bubbles.

Their breathless laughter bounced off the tile walls and floor as they frolicked in the tub. Eventually they relaxed and bathed each other using his body wash and a cloth. The tone of their play became more serious as they slowly lathered each other, enjoying the way they each responded to the stroking of the cloth.

At one point, he sighed deeply and murmured, "You have no idea what you do to me."

"Oh, I think I have some," she said unexpectedly.

He opened one eye and saw her grinning at him. "Really?" he said, his voice dripping with skepticism.

Her grin only widened as she ran the cloth leisurely up his leg. "Sure. You’re a sensualist."

He blinked. "I’m a what?"

"You know, someone who has a special need to touch and be touched."

"Huh."

She met his blank look, her eyes dancing. "You’ve never heard of that before, have you?"

"Well, yes. Of course, I have. But not in terms of . . . I mean, not as if it were anything unusual. Doesn’t everyone feel that way?"

She shook her head. "No. I mean, yes. We all like to be touched. But each of us has different things that move us deeply. For some, it’s an act of kindness. For others, it’s soft words."

"And you’re saying that for me, it’s touching."

"Yes."

"Oh." He digested that. "What about you? What moves you?"

She smiled. "Oh, I’m a sensualist too. Which is why I noticed it in you." She slid closer to him in the water, lathering his chest in slow circles with the cloth. "I really like to touch you, Ed," she said, her eyes on his. "I especially like how you like it."

He brought his hand out of the water and drew her closer for a long kiss. "I was thinking earlier about how exciting it is for me to have a lover who responds so completely to me. I didn’t realize that there was a reason for it beyond just the wonder of you."

She gave him a soft smile. "Disappointed now that you know I’m not so unusual?"

"Not in the least." He gave her another potent kiss, then sat back and looked at her in silence, his hand still at the back of her neck. And his blue eyes very intense on hers. "Speaking of touching," he said finally, "there’s something I was wondering if we could do."

"Oh?" She was already breathless at the thought of doing anything with him, but perhaps she should hear him out before blindly agreeing.

"It’s dangerous," he warned her in mock-playfulness.

"Okay. What is it?"

He leaned forward, his eyes burning into hers. "I want to taste you."

She came at the mere thought of it, shuddering in expectation. "Ed!"

He lost his intent look at her reaction and grinned. "You want it – don’t you?"

"Yes. Oh, yes, Ed! I want that – with you." She could deny him nothing. And indeed, wouldn’t want to.

He lifted her, bringing her close to the edge of the tub so that she could hold on. Then he moved back, her body sliding through his hands until he had hold of her hips. He slowly lifted her out of the bubbles until her dark curls were just above the surface in front of his face, then he leaned forward slowly and kissed them, his eyes on hers.

She shuddered again, her breath backed up in her throat. "Ed!"

He devoured her.

Rayna held onto the edge of the tub for dear life, her body bowed up with the force of what he brought to her, trembling and caught up in the whirlwind. She had no conscious thought of what he was doing to her, too shattered by her body’s reaction to his licks and nips and suckles to do anything but feel. She also had no idea that she was saying anything, until after she exploded into a million pieces and came back to herself, realizing that she was repeatedly sobbing his name.

He released her and came closer in the water, running a hand down her cheek to dry her tears. "Rayna, did I frighten you?"

She gave him a slumbrous smile. "You overwhelmed me."

He paused, eying her intently. "And was that a good thing?"

She chuckled sleepily. "Oh, yeah. Awesome, in fact. Out of this world."

He grinned in relief and kissed her hand. "That’s good. That’s great. It was wonderful. You were wonderful. Thank you!" He kissed her hand again. "Thank you!"

"I think I should be thanking you," she told him. "At least, I would if I had any brain cells left to do it."

He chuckled, delighted. "Did I blow your mind? I always wanted to do that to someone, but I could never figure out what it took."

"Now you know."

He grinned happily at her. Then his hand tightened on her cheek, and his expression turned serious. "I only get this night – this one night with you," he said fiercely. "And I wanted to have your taste to remember. The image of you wouldn’t be enough to last me. I needed your taste too."

"No one’s ever touched me there before, Ed," she said, uncaring that she was baring her soul to him. "And I never wanted them to. It was a part of me that was so private that I didn’t think I’d ever share it with anyone. Until tonight. Until you."

"Then I have to thank you even more, for trusting me enough to give me that part of you."

"I love you, Ed."

His breath caught. "I love you too, Rayna."

She touched his face. "I wish we could find a way to stretch this one night into fifty years or so, but I understand all about the limitations that life causes. And if you say there’s no way for us to make a go of it, I believe you, because you wouldn’t lie about it. But you were right to take this small space of time for just us. It would have been so stupid to have not taken you up on your offer. You were so right. I would have regretted it forever. As it is, I’ll never forget you. And here’s the thing: I won’t need anything else to get me through the next fifty-odd years. The memory of tonight will be more than enough."

He grabbed her close and held on. "Oh, God! I wish . . . you have no idea how much I wish I could keep you! Rayna! Oh, God! You undo me! I won’t forget you either. You’ve burned yourself into my mind to the point where all I see is you. And tonight . . . tonight is a feast of you! If I live to be a hundred, I would still die a happy man as long as I have tonight to remember. Thank you for tonight. Thank you so much!"

She ran her fingers through his hair as he trembled against her, soothing him back into a calmer mood. After a while, he lifted his head from where it had been pillowed on her breast and said, "I think the bubbles have gone."

She grinned at him. "Yes. And the water is getting cold too."

He stood up in the tub, extending a hand to help her to her feet. "Playtime’s over."

She ignored his hand for a moment and grinned up into his face. "No more dangerous games?"

He knew that ornery look by now. "What did you have in mind?" he asked her.

She slid closer to him in the water, reaching up a hand to caress his thigh. "I want to worship you."

His breath clogged in his throat, because her meaning was unmistakable even though he had never heard it referred to in that manner. "Rayna!" he gasped.

She watched as his body reacted to her request. She lightly touched the tip of his hardening penis, then smiled up at him. "You like that idea, don’t you?"

He was trembling already, and completely incapable of telling her either yes or no. Although he would never dream of telling her no for anything she wanted to do with him. "Rayna!" he gasped again.

She took that as a yes, and bringing her mouth to his tip, lightly blew on it. He shuddered convulsively, and she grinned up at him. Next she touched him with just the tip of her tongue – tip to tip – and his knees nearly buckled. "God!" he muttered and grasped her shoulders.

Then he was in her mouth, and she was feeding on him, now suckling until he thought he would explode, then backing off to nip lightly at his tip, licking it soothingly when he shuddered. She drove him beyond the edge of reason, to the point where pleasure became his sole reason for existence – where he would have done anything, given anything, for her sweet torture to continue forever.

But time stands still for no man, and his release snuck up on him, taking him by the throat and annihilating him. He became aware of his surroundings several moments later to find his back up against the wall tiles and his throat raw from his shout. He looked down, and she was gazing up at him, her dark eyes impossibly soft in her beautiful face. He stared at her for a long time in silence, his eyes doing their best to memorize her expression while his legs tried to remember how to function.

Then she rose to her feet and took his hand. He pulled the plug on the tub before exiting, and she gave him a towel from the stack of bath towels on the counter. She dried herself on the way back into the bedroom, then sat on the edge of the bed and vigorously dried her long hair. He brought the brush from his dresser and was pleased beyond measure when she let him brush her hair for her.

Later, when they lay in each other’s arms, he said, "Remember how you told me that no one had ever touched you there before? That it was private, and you didn’t trust anyone else before me?"

"Yes," she said, snuggling closer.

"That’s how it was for me too."

She was astonished, but did her best not to show it. She knew the statistics. Most men were much freer with their bodies than women were, the regular handling of their members to urinate desensitizing them at an early age. But Ed’s disclosure that no one had ever touched him there before her showed a fastidiousness far beyond what most men would even consider. Or else it showed a level of loneliness far greater than most men could endure. Either way, it couldn’t have been easy for him all these years. And it made her doubly glad that she had been here for him tonight.

"Hmmm," she said, nuzzling his chest with her lips. "Then I guess I should thank you for trusting me to give you pleasure and not pain."

"You were incredible," he murmured sleepily. "And the pleasure was – indescribable."

She grinned. "You’re welcome."

He chuckled and hugged her closer. After a while, he said, "Was it similar for you? I mean, the pleasure?"

"Probably. It’s a very sensitive part of the body, male or female. I suppose there would be some minor variations in sensation from sex to sex or from person to person, but I wouldn’t think it would be that different when it came down to it."

"Thank you," he said softly, and she knew what he meant.

"You’re welcome. Anytime," she said. And she meant it.

After a while he said, "You have a mark on your back – at the base of your spine – that looks rather like a loosely tied knot. Is it a birthmark?"

She met his eyes, hers twinkling. "It’s my tat."

His eyes widened. "You have a tattoo?"

"Yes."

"Of a knot?" he asked skeptically.

She gave that choke of laughter that delighted him. "No. Of course not."

"What is it then?"

She raised a brow at him. "You tell me."

He raised a brow back at her, then moved swiftly down the bed to look closer at her back.

"Hmmm," he said after a moment, his nose inches from her spine. "It looks like a form of ancient calligraphy – two letters intertwined. N. S. Is that someone’s initials?"

"No," she said as he returned to her side. "It’s my family’s motto. It’s been the same for centuries. It’s even on our family crest."

"What does it stand for?"

" _Nu spun_."

He looked bewildered. "‘Never tell’? What kind of motto is that?"

She met his eyes in shock. "You know Romanian?"

"Yes. Well, I . . . um." His eyes dropped away from hers for a moment. "You see, I took a course on the Romanian language when I was in college."

"You took a course in college," she repeated, as if she was stunned. "Why?" she demanded, and he looked even more sheepish.

"I was planning a visit to Romania during my vacation."

"Good grief! Whatever for?"

He shrugged, but since he still had that sheepish look on his face, she knew there was more to it. Suddenly, she thought she knew. "Oh, dear God! You wanted to find Dracula!"

He grinned. "Well, not him personally. But I’d read so much about him. He was so cruel. And the legends that sprang up around him were so horrific! I wondered how much of it was truth and how much merely legend. I wanted to research more while I was there, so that I could get a clearer picture."

"My God, Ed! Do you have any idea how insane that was?"

He frowned. "You think I wouldn’t have found anything?"

"I think you would have found far too much! Did you have a death wish?"

"Oh, come on," he said. "It’s not like I believed in vampires or anything crazy like that. It was just the history of the man I wanted to explore. What harm could there be in that?"

"What would you have done if you found him?" she demanded sternly.

"Rayna, he’s been dead for centuries."

"Yes," she agreed tersely. "But what would you have done if you found him?"

He stared at her in bewilderment. After a moment, he said, "I don’t know. Seen if the legends about him were true, I suppose."

She closed her eyes on a quick shudder. When she opened them again, she asked in a calmer voice, "Why didn’t you go? What changed your mind?"

"That was the year . . . my mother got ill." He pressed his lips together for a moment, then said quietly, "I didn’t go anywhere on vacation that year."

"I’m sorry, Ed." She laid a hand on his arm in sympathy, and he gathered her close. But she looked up past his shoulder to heaven for a moment and silently thanked his mother for keeping him from his youthful plans. She’d without a doubt saved his young and foolish life. And even if her illness had ended up costing her life, which was quite possible from the way Ed reacted when discussing it, Rayna felt that it was a fair trade-off. One life for another: a mother’s for her son’s. And she was pretty sure that his mother, looking down from heaven, would agree that it had been a fair trade.

"Rayna," he said once they were laying down once more. "What does it mean, ‘never tell’? Never tell what?"

She kissed his chest and hugged him close. "Now, Ed. That would be telling – wouldn’t it?"

  
 **Chapter 5**

When Straker woke, he could see her face in the light of the early morning sun filtering in the bedroom through the window shades. His heart gave a great lurch. His night with her was over.

No! He wouldn’t let it be. Not yet!

 _Not yet_.

He eased back the bedcovers and gently stroked her from shoulder to thigh, delighting in the feel of her under his hands. A sensualist, was he? Well, it was nice to know there was a name for it. He lingered at her breasts, watching the nipples harden at his touch. God, he’d never known such responsiveness! Even asleep, she wanted him. A man could live a long and satisfied life with a woman like that.

She murmured throatily in her sleep and stretched languidly. He took advantage of her movements to deepen his stroking, and she responded with a contented sigh, her legs opening for his touch. When he cupped her, she made a sound in the back of her throat that had him going rock hard in an instant. Her breath hitched, and her eyelids fluttered. Eventually they opened, and she met his eyes, her own dark and full of passion.

"Ed," she sighed, loving his method of waking her. He had a way of taking over her body that was both tender and relentless, making her more his than her own. She thought vaguely that if more men were as devoted to pleasuring as he was, their women would be their willing slaves.

Then she couldn’t think at all.

He slid inside her, thrilled to find her more than ready for him. God, she ruined him for any other lover! He watched the dawn advance across her face as they moved together, taking his time, staring into her eyes, luxuriating in this hour stolen from the new day.

She fell apart in his arms, shimmering to a release that seemed to go on forever. And in the end, took him with her into ecstasy.

As her heart rate slowed, she opened her eyes . . . and met his intent blue gaze.

"Good morning," she murmured.

"Rayna," he said, his voice strained. "I can’t say good-bye to you. I can’t – !"

She laid a finger against his lips, silencing him. Her hand slid into his hair for a moment, wanting to take that tactile feel of him with her when she left. "It’s okay, Ed." She lightly kissed him. "Go get your shower."

He stared at her for a time in silence. There was so much he wanted to say – and no words that could change what was. He’d been given his night, and now the new day had come. He pressed his lips to hers one last time, then got out of the bed. At the door of the bathroom, he looked back. And his heart broke at the sight of her in his bed watching him. He almost said something then – anything to keep her there.

But they’d never let him keep her. His life was not his own, and it never would be. He had to be grateful that he’d been able to have even the one night with her. A night Security would, if he was lucky, never even know about. One night – the memory of which he would have to use to stave off the loneliness of every other night for the rest of his life. He thought back over all he’d experienced with her over the past precious hours.

It would be enough.

When he came out of the bathroom several minutes later, she was gone.

***  
"You sure know how to pick them, don’t you?"

He looked up from adjusting the figures for the proposed upgrades on Moonbase and saw Alec glaring at him across his HQ desk. "What?"

His second-in-command sighed gustily, then waved a folder at him. "You! And Rayna Dalco."

Straker’s heart leapt at hearing her name. For one glorious moment, he thought Alec had found some way for them to be together. Then reality returned, and his expression darkened. "What do you want, Alec?"

"I just said."

"There is no me and Rayna Dalco."

"Come on, Ed! You admitted as much to me the other day."

"And she and half of the cast left for home two days ago. Do you see me with her? Do you?"

"No." Alec sighed again and sat down on the chair in front of the desk. "Listen, Ed. I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you there. Maybe if you’d moved on her sooner, you might have been able to talk her into a short affair. It’s not my fault you let her get away."

Straker pinched the bridge of his nose where a headache was brewing. "Did you have something important to tell me, Alec? Or is this just a rampage because you didn’t score with her?"

"Oh, that’s nice! Rub it in, will you?"

Actually, Straker considered that he had shown admirable restraint in not rubbing it in to his rakish friend that he had managed to succeed where Alec had failed. In actual fact, Freeman knew nothing about their night together. "Well?" he asked in a slightly less hostile tone.

The colonel placed the folder on his desk. "I dug a bit deeper on her."

Straker laid a hand over the folder, but didn’t open it. He met his friend’s eyes. "Why?"

Alec shrugged. "She wasn’t your normal average actress. Everything about her was just that little bit different. And it made me curious."

The commander thought that her only odd point in Alec’s eyes would have been her refusal to have sex, but he didn’t say so. "Curious?"

His old friend gestured to the folder. "It’s all in there. In black and white."

"Give me a hint."

"Fine. But I need a drink first." The colonel got up and poured himself a stiff one from the corner dispenser before returning to his seat. "Her family’s got quite the long and interesting history."

Straker remembered her unusual tattoo. The family motto of ‘never tell.’ "Go on."

"Oh, you know. They’re pretty important in law enforcement in Romania, but from what I’ve been able to gather, that’s so that they can cover up any crime they commit."

"Are you seriously suggesting the Russian mob, Alec?"

"You look at the report. See for yourself."

"But Rayna was born and raised in New York. Do you have anything concrete on her?"

"Well – no. But her brother is wanted for the gruesome murder of his girlfriend a few years back. Apparently he fled the country before his trial."

"And?"

Freeman shrugged. "That’s all I’ve found so far."

"That’s hardly anything against Rayna herself."

"Well, no. Not technically. But I thought you might like to know before you think about bringing her back for another film."

Straker raised a brow at him. "And was I thinking about that, Alec?"

"Weren’t you?"

 _God, yes!_   But he hadn’t realized that he was being obvious about it. Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe Alec just knew him better than most people and was aware of how tenacious he could be when his emotions were engaged. "I suppose," he admitted cautiously.

What he wanted to do was have her here to do a film as often as possible. That way, if they took an evening for themselves once each time she came, they could manage a kind of long-term affair. In a way. It sounded awful, and depressed him immeasurably to think of trying to get her to agree to it. But it was the best he could do in the circumstances. Security didn’t watch him that closely on a day-to-day basis. His life was dismally routine normally, and they would only get interested in him if he deviated from that routine. If he took a vacation after all these years. Or didn’t show up for work a few days running. As long as he was where he routinely was whenever he was routinely there, no flags would be raised. He could see her – under the radar, so to speak. But it made it seem so sordid somehow, and he didn’t know how to word it so that it would sound inviting to her instead of pathetic.

And she would certainly wonder why he wished to have a series of one night stands with her, but couldn’t have a more permanent relationship.

Of course, all of that was moot if Alec was going to be digging up dirt about her family. Security would definitely veto any return for her to the studio if they knew even what his friend had uncovered so far. Not that Straker was buying any of it himself. Rayna a part of the Russian mob? Not hardly.

Was she mysterious? In spades. Was she able to keep secrets? Undoubtedly. But a mobster? No.

Although Alec had been right about one thing: it really did look bad written down in black and white. Straker gave a deep sigh, then put the entire folder through the shredder. Now, how did he keep his old friend from tipping off Security?

***  
He managed to catch his secretary before she left for the evening.

"Miss Ealand," he said as he entered her office.

"Leaving, sir?" she asked him.

"Not just yet. Were you able to get hold of Miss Dalco’s agent for me?"

"Yes, sir. I gave her your proposal."

"Good. Have we received a response yet from her whether Miss Dalco is in favor of the proposal?"

"No, sir. She said there would be a short delay before we could find out what Miss Dalco wished to do. Is the matter urgent? I assumed we had some time before we had to know."

"There’s no urgency, Miss Ealand," he assured her. "That’s fine." He started to head back into his office, but turned back after a few steps and asked, "Did she say why there would be a delay? Miss Dalco made it home to New York safely, didn’t she?"

"Yes, sir. But apparently she was called away soon after arriving home. Her agent said that she’ll be out of the States for a few weeks dealing with a family matter."

"A family matter?" He came back to her desk. "Outside the US? Where?"

"Romania, I think she said. That’s where Miss Dalco’s family is from, isn’t it?"

"Yes." He stood staring off into space for a few moments, and she waited him out. She knew better than to interrupt him when he was thinking. Eventually, he looked back at her. "Thank you for your help, Miss Ealand. I appreciate your efficiency."

"Yes, sir."

　  
 **Epilogue**

"You’re being ridiculous. You know that?"

Straker finished filling his briefcase with the relevant contracts and closed it. "Look, Alec. I’ve explained this to you already."

"Yes, yes! I know!" his friend said, waving his arms in agitation. "Matthews is ready to start production on the film a month early, so you have to get her approval now. But really, Ed. We both know why you’re doing this. Why you’re going yourself instead of sending one of the staff to talk to her."

"It’s my job to handle the negotiating of contracts, Alec. Not yours. Not anyone else’s. Mine."

His friend braved that icy glare and came closer to the studio desk. "Dammit, Ed! Say whatever you want to everybody else, but at least be honest with me! You’re going personally because you’re determined to get her attention. Have you considered what you’d do if you ever got it? It’s not like you could marry her! Security would laugh in your face! And is it honestly worth going alone into possibly hostile territory just for an affair? One you’re going to have the devils’ own time trying to talk her into, since you already know she’s not keen. You’re not thinking straight!"

Straker sighed. "Romania is not hostile territory."

His friend grunted. "Well, it sure as hell ain’t friendly!"

"Look, Alec. I don’t know what your problem is. Henderson approved the time off, since even Dr. Jackson thinks I could use a break from SHADO for a few days. The studio stands to benefit greatly if we get Rayna for Matthews’ film. She’s perfect for the role. And Romania is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. This is a win-win scenario. The only one upset about this is you. And frankly, I just don’t understand why."

"That’s because you haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said!" Freeman ran a hand through his thick hair in frustration. "Okay, Ed. I’ll agree that _on the surface_ this whole scheme of yours sounds just perfect and will bring smiles all around if you can pull it off. But I know what’s under the surface, don’t I? I know that the main reason you’re going has nothing to do with the new film and everything to do with the last one! And it’s not like you to pursue a woman who’s already told you no. Face it. You’re obsessed! And if you go there and open yourself up for her rejection again, I don’t know what it will do to you. I don’t want to see you get hurt, Ed. And you usually are much better at avoiding these pitfalls without me having to say anything. And that bothers me too, because you haven’t been thinking straight since she arrived here in the first place!"

Straker sat back in his studio chair. "You’re right, Alec," he said quietly. "I am obsessed with her. And I’m afraid that there really isn’t anything that can change that now. I thought I’d be fine once she left, but I was wrong. I miss her unbearably and need to do whatever I can to bring her back into my life. Even if that means that I’ll only see her at intervals. But that doesn’t matter. Nothing matters other than seeing her again.

"But I’m not so far gone that I would put SHADO at risk. Or even the studio. I’ve managed to get everything arranged so that my small indulgence will actually work for the good of both the studio and HQ. The studio by having her star in the new film. And HQ by me taking a mini vacation. Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me I shouldn’t ignore my vacation time? That I should go somewhere exotic and live it up every once in a while? Isn’t that what you always say?"

"Romania’s not exotic. It’s the back of beyond!"

"Perhaps. But it’s where I want to go. Where – in fact – I’ve wanted to go since college."

The colonel met those earnest blue eyes – and sighed in defeat. "Fine!" he said. "Go there! Let her run rings around you and make your life miserable! Just . . . just come back in one piece. Okay?"

Straker smiled confidently at his friend. "I promise."

***  
With a great roar of rage, he swept out his arm and decapitated the servant with his sword. Then he stood still amidst the blood and surveyed the rest of his servants in the room, his fierce eyes full of burning hate.

Finally one servant detached themselves from the rest and came forward to offer to take his sword and clean it. He surrendered it without a word, then turned and walked out onto the tower terrace. He went to the parapet and looked out over the mountains.

 _His_ mountains. 

How many centuries had he enjoyed the view of these majestic mountains? Relished the knowledge that he was supreme here, that no one could touch him, could stop him? That he was lord of all he could see?

So many centuries. So many years. Years that sometimes blurred together with their sameness. But occasionally there would be a year that stood out, when a usurper would come, trying to oust his rightful place as Prince of Wallachia. Those years were sometimes remembered with anger, whenever the usurper had managed to get close enough to be a real menace to him. But mostly those years were marked by the thrill of the hunt, as he turned the tables on the encroacher and preyed on him instead.

But he had been careless with this one. He admitted it freely – at least to himself. He had watched from afar as they had built their battlements in far-off England, hoping to stem the tide of the enemy as it pressed forward to engulf them. He had even had a glimmer of respect for the man who would try such a hopeless endeavor. And he had waited and watched to see how soon the end would come, almost hoping that it wouldn’t be too soon and dull his enjoyment of the battle. But it had now been several years, and they were still standing. And their enemy had been thwarted time and again, amazingly the superior force being the ones who were pushed back instead of their weaker prey.

And the Prince’s respect for the pale man had sprouted a seed of fear. Fear that such a man might someday turn his eyes toward Romania and the Carpathian Mountains. That he might wish to dethrone the Lord of Darkness and take his place as ruler of all he surveyed.

That such a man might be capable of succeeding.

Now that man had come, crossing the Romanian border in a jet and daring to step onto the Prince’s territory. And fear had clutched at the Prince’s throat. Fear he had not felt in more centuries than he could count. But – no! The pale man was still just that: a man. A human. Slow-witted, gullible, and weak. A pathetic creature, really, hardly worth the effort it took to destroy him.

The Prince sighed. Perhaps he should not have been so hasty in killing the servant who had delivered the message to him. It might have been better to know where the pale man was heading. He clicked his fingers, and a servant immediately came forward out of the shadows of the doorway.

"Yes, my Prince?"

"Find out where Straker has gone. I want him watched ceaselessly and his movements reported to me hourly. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my Prince."

He turned from his view of his mountains, his fierce eyes boring into the servant’s. " _Do not fail me."_

The servant’s knees shook as he backed away, saying, "No, my Prince."

He was dismissed with a negligent hand, and the Prince returned to his view of the mountains. His inviolate mountains. He felt the blood stir in his veins as he surveyed his world, and was abruptly glad of it. A challenge. Yes. This usurper would be a challenge. It only remained to be seen whether he would be an opponent worthy of the Prince’s time.

His fierce eyes lit at the prospect. And the one who had borne many names over the vast space of time – Maldos, Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia, Dracula – readied himself for the hunt.


End file.
